Well, I live in good ol' LDS Utah! In other places of the US, or maybe even the world, if you are from Utah, you are always considered Mormon, or a polygamist I've got to say, I am not a polygamist, nor are my parents.

Anyway, that's not the point. I apologize, I tend to ramble.

Most of the Mormons in Utah are complete nut jobs, just like any other crazy-religious persons. I'm not religious, and I don't mean to offend anybody, but I think religion is a waste of time. I believe there is a God, but all I think he/she wants me to do is just live my life the way I want to, hopefully with a good intentions. Because it's right to do the right thing! Woo! Ahem.
My grandma was talking to me the other day, about "the second coming." I wanted to laugh at her idiocy. (Again, I mean no offense, but it will probably offend you anyway.) She told me "Ya better get that cute little nose of yours in the book of Mormon!" And I replied, "HAHAHA, of course grandma!" But really, I was like "Nope." She wants to bind all of us together so we don't get "separated" when we die. To put it shortly, if I'm not participating in Mormonism, I'm going to hell. And she doesn't want that. So she gives me the book of Mormon for every single Christmas day. I have so many stashed away in my closet...
I just think it's a waste of time. Who are we to judge and act on the stories of the Bible, or the book of Mormon, if we may or may not be interpreting them right? I feel like I'm making a living non-religiously. I'm content without a religion. If anyone's content with a religion, good for you. I'm simply stating my opinion on it. Not trying to offend anyone, but opinions tend to offend people. I'm just apologizing in advance.

I think that sometimes religion can be a good thing for some people. Some people need an anchor to hold onto in life to keep them from drifting off into nothingness. Religion can give people a purpose, a reason for existing, a way to let themselves become apart of something bigger then themselves and to feel good about it. But some people can become so caught up into it that they forget that other people don't live the same way as you but yet they insist that their way is the only way.

I have a relative that is all crazy about christianity and especially the end of the world part. She's always sending me these doomsday notices and what to do when the "3 days of darkness hit" but all that's fine. She can believe what ever she wants. That's the beauty of having your own life

There's a lot of people who don't need this anchor though and might believe that religion should be wiped from existence because its the bane of many problems but I believe that there should be some sort of religion in the world. There just needs to be a balance for it much like everything else. Besides, its kinda nice to believe that there's some guy upstairs that's always looking out for you and keeping you in his thoughts.

Ok that was my two cents. Figured I'd make a post real quick after joining. Looking forward to other discussions.

I think the problem most ppl have w/religion is that they look for it in other ppl or institutions. I tell my best friend - an atheist - that if he wants to see true religion, he has to live it. Nobody else is going to be, or believe exactly as he would, so he shouldn't expect to find what to believe in somewhere else.

For me - I think life is a square: emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual. If you don't have all 4, ur robbing urself of 1/4 of what life can offer you. And don't believe me. Ya'll'll read all sorts of school books about history and math and science, but very few of you will read a philosophy book beyond Machiavelli's The Prince (which is still very good read, doncha know and even fewer of you will sereiously read anything spiritual. You should give it a go. See what the wide world has to offer before rushing to brand greater men and women than you or I of inferior intelligence.

Try something by C.S. Lewis - like the Screwtape Letters.

For me, I'm a Christian, which simply means: Jesus was both a real person and the son of God; he really died, truly rose from the grave 3 days and is absolutely coming again. (But I don't pretend to know when.) There a lot of details in Christianity, but if you get the above, then the rest are just nits - debating points. Abortion or not (I'm pro-abortion - though it should be regulated to prevent crap like this: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/-5-10-Years-in-Prison-for-Pa-Abortion-Clinic-Tech-250209311.html, but I'm not in favor of tyring to legislate other ppls morality - at least in that way).

I'm a Christian because it's right for me. I don't expect it to be right for anyone else, and I wouldn't normally talk about, but - since ya'll brought it up.

I think the problem most ppl have w/religion is that they look for it in other ppl or institutions. I tell my best friend - an atheist - that if he wants to see true religion, he has to live it. Nobody else is going to be, or believe exactly as he would, so he shouldn't expect to find what to believe in somewhere else.

I wanted to highlight what you shared as a starting point for me haha. I also very much believe this. At the end of the day, spirituality and religion can only be found within yourself. Due to the non-beneficial aspects of control religions have, the non-beneficial control media has, and often the non-beneficial control history has...people tend to forget they can make choices just fine in this world. People look to others for a variety of reasons, but notably lack of self-esteem and fear - which feed a bigger theme of distraction.

People often lack self-esteem to break out of religious structures that aren't benefiting them, because they are afraid to stand alone. Standing alone seems scary for the social creatures we humans often are. Haha and in contemporary society, one's self-esteem can really take a beating! Religion, politics, history, media, family etc. all can erode self-esteem; many of the same channels also go further to make one believe that they cannot make good choices - which displaces true responsibility over self. I believe it is my responsibility to seek truth for myself - truth for all my selves: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. (That box metaphor is pretty good too!)

Other times, fear/desire gets in the way of taking responsibility. The lingering fear of "what if I make the wrong choice? This leader must know better..." is a fear of liberating oneself. If you do the work you'll know what is or isn't true. Making the choice to start to do the work is a good place to start to break out of the distraction.

The distraction in this world is what continues to avert our attention from the fact that we haven't even begun to take responsibility for ourselves.

I wouldn't say all organized religion is bad. Everyone's path to enlightenment is different. So the fact that you find enlightenment outside a group should neither validate nor invalidate those that find it in a group. Any more than the group should invalidate your experiences.

I will provide an interesting topic that have relation to the history of Chrunchyroll.
Internet was praised as the technology that allow real freedom of expression especially after the introduction of Web 2.0. However, the internet was also criticized as a breed ground for intellectual property thief. Hidden from public by some dirty business in their collective hive-mind, this idea of intellectual ownership have a longer history in America and is filled with political loopholes; the idea of owning the intangible was once applied to the birthday song where a family have to pay a company to sing the birthday song.
In American history, copying was once considered a Human Right and the few large media companies that exist now become successful from their historic copying. When those big media companies gain enough power, they set up the copyright law with legal loophole; those big companies can take ownership of any future media products from their customers. The logic behind this loophole is simple: If a person had previously viewed a media product from a company and decide to make a media product themselves, then that media product from that person must be an imitation of the media product from the company. In fact, a music producer was sued by the copyright law just for hearing the music of the large companies for one second and later making a music that have no resemblance to the ‘copied’ music. This interpretation of the copyright law do not seem to be held now especially when the big America cartoon companies make anime-inspired cartoons like Avatar...